Virus protection is like layering Swiss cheese armor on top of your body. Masks are one layer, vaccination is another—distancing, well-ventilated air, and hand hygiene are still more. One hole-filled slice of aged cheese on top of another. The more layers, the fewer holes: Get it? And misinformation? Oh, well, that’s a cute little mouse […]
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
Let the trucks roll
The county of Santa Barbara has forced ExxonMobil to propose trucking their oil until they are permitted to reopen their pipeline. The pipeline is the least expensive and safest means of transportation for the oil from Las Flores refinery. We urge the county to grant their permission for ExxonMobil to proceed for these reasons. They […]
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Vandenberg Space Force Base military firefighters were deployed 7,700 miles to keep aircrews safe in Afghanistan
When the first plane flew at Kitty Hawk in 1903, it began an era that has produced some very large aircraft—many of those are military aircraft. In 1937, the U.S. Army Air Corp developed the first firefighting vehicle modified specifically to fight aircraft fires from a commercially produced fire engine. Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSF) […]
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Vulnerability
Who’s going to be the most impacted by climate change in Santa Barbara County? I’ll give you one guess. It’s not the people who own pieces of the pristine Hollister Ranch area—including filmmaker James Cameron and musician Jackson Browne—who like to keep their private portion of California’s coastline as inaccessible to the general public as […]
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Let’s trounce voter suppression
With a sense of helplessness, we watch events in Afghanistan unfold and wildfires rage in this great state. Meanwhile, the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act are strongly beckoning us to repeal the greatest threat to voting rights since Reconstruction. Hundreds of new voting restrictions are being enacted in […]
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Hey, Jordan Cunningham!
For a guy who likes to talk a big game about supporting the middle class and advocating for the job force, you sure threw nurses under the bus with your letter to the Health and Human Services asking to wipe out our staffing ratios. Nurses have been working the last 18 months with crushingly high-acuity […]
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Officials must wear masks too
The Police Department held a public meeting at the Minami Center last Monday evening, Sept. 20. There are signs on both front doors saying that anyone who enters any public building must wear a mask. Everyone in attendance did wear a mask over their nose and mouth, except for Councilperson Etta Waterfield. She sat among […]
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PG&E’s increased protection measures, while frustrating at times, are decreasing potential wildfire ignitions
The threat of wildfire in California and other Western states continues to grow. Severe drought conditions, dry fuels, and rising temperatures are driving unprecedented increases in the potential risk for wildfires. To combat this increased risk, PG&E is continuing to evolve our wildfire prevention efforts for the safety of our customers and communities. One of […]
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The recent Firefly Alpha rocket explosion shows there must have been a faulty debris analysis before the launch
When either commercial or government missile and space programs are being planned for launch, the team must prepare the rocket for launch, and the military or the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) must approve the launch team’s “flight hazard area analysis.” The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) applies to commercial space programs and specifically says that […]
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Wild words
Is the world too touchy-feely these days? Do we need to go back to the days of gunslingers and fights in the street? At least one man in Santa Maria thinks so! And he told everyone who attended what would normally have been a pretty benign meeting about the Santa Maria Police Department’s goals for […]
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The sinking of the Santa Maria
Santa Maria High School, and perhaps the city of Santa Maria, will be abandoning its image of Columbus’ flagship, the Santa Maria, as a logo. Duh! Whose idea was it in the first place to adopt that ship as the city’s, and school’s, logo in the first place? I can assure you, it was not […]
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Veggies and vegetation
Just in case you guys were wondering, 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino is ardently against Brussels sprouts. “Brussel sprouts, I’m total anti-Brussel sprout. I’ll come out right now on that one. Anyone that orders it around me has got a problem, because I will tell you to please move it away from me. It smells,” […]
